Running every weekend from May 31-September 27, The Rooftop Summer Series will be screening 19 feature films and over 150 short films in 38 screenings at a dozen outdoor locations all over the city. There will be world premieres of daring new independent feature films, and screenings of award-winning short films in exciting, themed programs. All screenings include live music before the films, and most screenings include after-parties with free drinks.
SHORT FILMS ONLINE
Rooftop Films will be posting 100 short films online at IFC.com, this year with enhanced blogging from the filmmakers, and the opportunity for you to post comments and questions to discuss the work with the filmmakers. The first films go up in a couple weeks.
MAY-JUNE-JULY SCHEDULE
Sat., May 31 – On the lawn in Fort Greene Park (Brooklyn)
At the Death House Door (Steve James & Peter Gilbert)
Feature documentary sneak preview
Pastor Carroll Pickett oversaw 95 executions at a Texas prison, but the experiences changed his views forever. The makers of “Hoop Dreams” examine this contentious issue through the story of this unique anti-death penalty activist.
** Watch At the Death House Door on IFC! **
Rooftop Films 2008 Summer Series – Opening Night
Fri., June 6 – Open Road Rooftop (Lower East Side, Manhattan)
This is What we Mean by Short Films
Shorts program
Adventures are as common as rooftops. Films that don’t take long to astonish, amaze, inspire.
Sat. and Sun., June 7 & 8 – Open Road Rooftop (Lower East Side)
Fundraise the Roof
Shorts program & music festival co-presented by New Design High School
Rooftop Films and New Design High School present a two-day film, music and graffiti festival. Due to city and state-wide budget cuts announced in early February, New Design is being forced to discontinue numerous Arts Integration Programs, and so Rooftop Films is helping to organize this important event. 
Thu., June 12 – On the lawn at Automotive High (Williamsburg)
Making the Mission
Shorts program
Short films about big adventures, including the award-winning post-Katrina shipwreck epic “Glory At Sea,” co-funded by Rooftop Films.
Fri., June 13 – Open Road Rooftop (Lower East Side, Manhattan)
Captured (Ben Soloman, Dan Levin, Jennifer Furst | New York)
World premiere feature documentary
The story of Clayton Patterson, prolific photo documentarian of the Lower East Side for 30 years.
DATE TBA – On the roof of The Old American Can Factory (Gowanus)
Untitled Frans Wuytack Doc (Fabio Wuytack | Belgium/Venezuela )
New York sneak preview feature documentary
Prosecuted as a rebel. Banned as a priest. Committed as an artist. Loved as a father. An inspiring documentary co-funded by Rooftop Films.
Fri., June 20 – Open Road Rooftop (Lower East Side, Manhattan)
All is Fair: Romantic Short Films
Shorts program co-presented by K-Y
Lost souls search for love in illogical places.
Sat., June 21- On the roof of The Old American Can Factory (Gowanus)
The Women of Brukman (Isaac Isitan | Canada & Argentina)
New York premiere feature documentary
The Brukman garment workers in Argentina take control of their factory during the 2001 financial crisis, winning a radical victory for worker-owned industry.
Fri., June 27 – Open Road Rooftop (Lower East Side)
Surreal Shorts
Shorts program and live music, co-presented by the Museum of Modern Art and Premiere Commission
Unexpected juxtapositions evoke the spirit of Dali, preceded by a performance by pianist Bruce Levingston and the world premiere of a score for piano inspired by short films from MoMA’s Dali: Painting and Film exhibition.
Fri., July 4 – On the pier at Solar One (23rd & the East River, Manhattan)
Un-American Films
Shorts program
Food, drinks, live music, fantastic fireworks view and explosive political films. A mix of the wacky and the weighty in contemporary America.
Fri., July 11 – On the roof of El Museo Del Barrio (East Harlem)
La Corona y Alguna Tristeza (The Crown and Some Kind of Sadness)
Short film program co-presented by El Museo Del Barrio
The melancholic beauty of Latin America
Sat., July 12 – On the roof of The Old American Can Factory (Gowanus)
Knee Deep (Michael Chandler | Farmington, ME)
New York premiere
Death, conspiracy, betrayal, cattle and irony in a tiny New England town.
Fri., July 18 – On the lawn at Automotive High School (Williamsburg)
Rural Route Films
Shorts program
The rougher side of the rural life. Short films about troublemakers, hell-raisers, and two towns that brawl annually.
DATE TBA – On the roof of The Old American Can Factory (Gowanus)
INDUSTRIANCE™ Short Films: The Livelong Day
Short films about the weirder side of work. Dancing dock hands, desperate CEOs, out-of-control operating system salesmen and radioactive chicken.
Fri., July 25 – On the lawn at Automotive High (Williamsburg)
Animation Block Party
Shorts program presented by Animation Block
Some of the best new animated short films from around the world.
Sat., July 26 – On the roof of The Old American Can Factory (Gowanus)
In a Dream (Jeremiah Zagar | Philadelphia, PA)
New York Premiere Feature Documentary
When the filmmaker set out to put together a documentary about the legendary mosaics his father pieces together, he didn’t mean to take his family apart. An eye-popping and heart-wrenching documentary about art and love.